Fender has teamed up with German speaker manufacturer Teufel for the Rockster, a series of new Bluetooth speakers.
In recent years, a host of amp brands have put more attention into their home audio speaker wings. Orange, for example, has the Pyramid Audio System and the Orange Box to its name. For Marshall, amp sales accounted for just 5% of the Marshall Group’s revenues in 2023, dwarfed instead by its home audio earnings.
Now, Fender has continued its own home audio activities in a bid to hold a greater presence in a market that is becoming increasingly popular for amp firms.
It's not the first time it's created home audio products. The maple-adorned portable Riff speaker turned heads at NAMM 2023, but this new collaboration places fresh emphasis on its desire to succeed in a different kind of speaker market.
Teufel has been designing audio products since 1979, so it’s well-placed to guide these new designs. The series launches with a trio of speakers and their designs focus on portability, party-friendly features, and practicality.
Each speaker has been designed to meet different audio needs – be it at home or on-the-go – and they come in at varying price points.
At $599.99, the Rockster Air 2 “premium party speaker” is the priciest of the bunch. Made for “live events and the stage,” it looks to go beyond the bedroom with a high-capacity battery that promises hours of playback even when turned up to 11.
It also offers high-resolution audio powerful enough to entertain an 80-person part in stereo configuration.
The Rockster Cross ($249.99) is your mid-priced option and aims to balance portability and audio quality. It’s also water-resistant (so it should withstand pool parties and beer spillages all the same) and comes loaded with Teufel’s signature Dynamore audio system for a wide soundstage. A fast-charging battery is also a handy addition.
For the budget end of the scale, the Rockster Go 2 ($129.99) “comes outfitted with everything a true adventurer needs,” namely durable housing and Teufel’s top-notch Dynamore tech. A hardy little speaker, it is IP67 rated for dust and water-proofing.
“The Rockster series is designed for audio lovers, and we know the fans and customers will truly hear the difference in sound quality,” says Teufel Managing Director Sascha Mallah. “Paired with Fender's innovation and design input, it really stands apart.”
“Fender and Teufel is a fantastic cooperation because both companies are in love with great sound,” adds Fender’s Justin Norvell. “When we’re going to put the Fender brand on something we really need to believe in it and make sure that it sounds great, and we partnered with Teufel because the audio is amazing and the products are top notch.”
In other Fender news – and there’s been a lot this week – the firm has given its Affinity guitars series a major expansion, entered the wireless guitar system market with the nifty-looking Telepath, and added the ‘59 Bassman to its Tone Master amp series.
Fender has also released a range of Road Worn Stratocaster and Telecaster bodies for modders wanting that relic'd look.
Head to Teufel to learn more about the Rockster series of speakers.
